


Entity

by DeeP_ci



Category: Danny Phantom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Ghosts, Humour, Magic, Mystery, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 00:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeeP_ci/pseuds/DeeP_ci
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't uncommon to get an angry neighbor banging on their door in the middle of the night. Decedents of mage-hunters in a town of magic? A bit of "mistrust" was to be expected.</p>
<p>That night, she expected the same. </p>
<p>That night, the last thing Maddie thought she was going to find when she opened that door was her cousin, Sirius Black, cradling an infant in his arms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Boy

**Author's Note:**

> **Entity** _noun_  
>  \- 1. Something that has a real existence; Thing
> 
> \- 2. Being or existence, especially when considered as distinct, independent, or self-contained
> 
> \- 3. Essential nature

Perhaps it was her rebellious nature that first sowed the seeds of her love for Jack. It had, at least in part, been the driving force that had steered her away from her family's tradition of magical schools and the dark arts - heck, she'd even gone to a muggle college, just to spite them!

The "Most Ancient and Noble House of Black" had disowned her for that - burnt her portrait off of their family tree rather vindictively, if she did say so herself. Even now, decades later, Maddie still felt rather smug about it. Never in her life had she felt so... free. Free to do whatever she wished. Go wherever she pleased, go through whatever crazy muggle phase she wished. No more stuffy dark wizards or witches breathing down her neck, telling her how much of an improper young lady she was and how unmarriable she'd be - Ha!

Yes, Maddie decided, it was indeed her desire to rebel against her family's dark history and traditions that led her to befriending Jack. Despite his best friend's very obvious interest in her - something Jack was completely oblivious to - she'd enjoyed his company, his excitable nature, his goofiness...

She'd never expected to fall in love. Not with Jack Fenton. No mage had ever married a Fenton. Then again, none of them had ever dared become friends with one, either. And why would they? The Fenton Clan were some of the most feared Mage Hunters of all time.

The Fenton Clan. Muggles that had some sort of inborn resistance to most magics - heck, maybe they weren't even proper muggles at all. There weren't many signs of them outside of the US any more (except for those estranged Egyptian folk), but no creature of magic - be they witch, wizard, goblin or elf - had gone their lives without hearing the name at least once. Most still recognised it. Most still remembered what it had once stood for.

Highly skilled, damned fierce and incredibly feared hunters of magic, it was rumoured they could sniff out magic a mile away. They were very powerful, sure, but blinded by their determination. If it had magic, it was evil - that was all they saw, and all they would ever see.

Maddie cast a look at her husband, who was cheerfully blathering on too his three-year-old daughter, Jasmine, about ghosts. Their three-year-old daughter.

Maybe her disapproving father-in-law was right. Maybe the Nightingale bloodline had truly "ruined" the Fenton line forever. Maddie couldn't have cared less. She had a beautiful daughter and a loving husband – what more could she want? Apart from the health and safety of her family and friends in England, that is. (And by family, she really just meant the only cousin she actually had anything to do with and/or liked.)

That damn war had barely touched America, but Maddie knew it was only a matter of time.

She had no illusions about the fact that Voldemort was focusing on England for a reason – there was something he wanted there. Something he wanted badly. Something that warranted him focusing the main bulk of his armies there, only lashing out when it seemed like some other country might, possibly, be somewhat inclined to help poor England out.

It made Maddie's blood boil. Nobody really wanted to help England, to expose themselves to receiving the same treatment England was getting by this so-called "Dark Lord". When the war was over, if Voldemort won – as chilling as that thought might be – would the magical community still turn a blind eye? How much more death and destruction would it take!?

Poor England. Once this was all said and done, it would take a very long time for them to trust the other countries again. Most of their bridges had been mercilessly burned.

She sighed. It was late and she was much too tired to be thinking such heavy thoughts. Jack noticed immediately, sending a puppy dog look in her direction. "You alright, Madds?"

Maddie smiled, weary but still completely smitten. "Yeah," she said. "It's just late..."

It wasn't a lie. It was probably well past eleven o'clock at night. She glanced at the clock and her eyes widened. It was _four am_ ‽

"Really late," she amended.

It wasn't like they hadn't spent their nights up this late before – they were scientists. They practically lived off of late nights and coffee or, in Jack's case, fudge – they rarely spent any time sleeping, even when they weren't working on one of their more involved projects. Maddie just didn't want Jazz to pick up their chaotic sleeping habits.

As if to punctuate that thought, the house shook with a loud banging. Someone was at the door, and they did not sound happy.

Maddie sighed. They'd lived in Amity for three years now. When would it end? The veil between the living world and the spectral world was thinner in Amity. It was the only place in all of America properly suited to their research needs, and still have enough of a population that Jazz wouldn't grow up socially stunted.

She kissed Jack on the cheek, running her fingers through her daughter’s silky ginger mane. The noise was causing her to stir. If she woke up now, she wouldn't get enough sleep later. "Put Jazz to bed, I'll go deal with this."

"Y'sure?"

She smiled, making sure to grab the Fenton Anti-Creep stick, just in case things got out of hand. "Positive, love."

He smiled and scooped up his daughter. Whatever the problem was, he had no doubt that Maddie Fenton could handle it herself.

She twirled the bat in one hand, propping it up on her shoulder. The knocking boomed out again, even louder before. She winced – of course it was louder, she was much closer now.

"I'm coming," she called, unable to keep a hint of disgruntled defensiveness out of her words.

The moment she opened that door, all her protective anger vanished without a trace. For just a moment, she began to smile. Before it could even fully form, it was already gone. Something was very wrong. It took a second for her to truly process the figure before her.

"Sirius, what happened," she demanded, anxiety gnawing at her. He looked... destroyed.

"Madds, please, I don't have much time," he pleaded, voice cracking with emotion. He looked exhausted, guilty, heartbroken. It would have taken something terrible to break down Sirius like this, something unspeakable. Her mouth went very dry, and she struggled to swallow. Maddie nodded once for him, quick, brief. She didn't trust herself to speak. It was all he needed.

He looked down and moved his arms a little. Suddenly she realised he'd been carrying something, clenched tightly in his arms. A baby. "He could sleep through anything," he said with a ghost of a smile. But his eyes were too dark, to pained.

It was killing her to see him so dead.

"I would take him with me if I could," Sirius began to ramble. "But I don't know, I mean, he needs somewhere safe and stable, and England is anywhere but. I'm anything but... You're the only person I could think of, only one I can trust, so..."

"Sirius, you don't mean..." Maddie's eyes widened. No. Sirius was not honestly saying...

He cut in, desperate, mistaking her surprise for flat-out denial. "It's not safe for him in the wizarding world now, no one will let him life without this over his head... he's not going to be safe..."

"Of course I'll take care of him," she said firmly, placing a strong hand on either of his slumped shoulders. "As long as it takes, you know that."

For a moment, she saw a real smile. An honest-to-god Sirius smile. He sighed in obvious relief, "Thank you, Madds."

He handed the infant to her and she realised with some sadness that this was the first time she'd actually held baby Daniel in her arms. He was, amazingly, sound asleep. Maddie thought, with some amusement, that this reminded her of Jack. He could sleep through anything, too.

Sirius's sorrow had returned. He very reluctantly took a step away. "I did a very stupid thing, Maddie," he said. His brow creased and she barely heard his hoarse whisper of, "...and now they're gone."

Before she could say anything more, he grinned up at her. It was so out of place up there with his sorrowful eyes, dark with guilt and sadness and mourning. "Still can't believe you married a Fenton," he joked, in true Sirius fashion (he always had to have the last word), and in a twirl of his dark tattered robes he was gone.

She found herself rocking her arms – it was such a habit by now whenever she had weight in them like this. Little Danny snoozed so peacefully, blissfully unaware of the toils of the horrid world he'd been born into, not stirring in the slightest at the loud crack of Sirius's Disapparation.

"Don't do anything stupid, dog breath," Maddie muttered uselessly. Sirius was already gone, after all. It wasn't like he could still hear her.


	2. Cause and Effect

News didn't come the next day, or the next day, or even the day after that. But between her work, her family, and making sure that Danny was settling in alright, she honestly didn’t have any time to ponder distressing thoughts such as whether or not her cousin and his friends were still breathing – a grim but welcome boon.

Danny had settled in with the family well enough. Or, rather, he didn't seem to mind that his actual parents were nowhere in sight, that is. It probably helped that he spent most of the time asleep. The infant slept like a log for almost a solid 20 hours a day, waking up only when it would have been night time over in England – the middle of the day in American time, so Apparition Lag wasn't going to be an issue, thank goodness. Maddie wondered how his mother had coped with such a nocturnal-orientated child... until she realised that the stubbornly crazy witch had probably arranged it like that on purpose. Maddie had snorted affectionately at the thought.

Jazz didn't seem too bothered by Danny's sudden presence – which was a relief, as Jazz's reaction was one of the things Maddie had been the most worried about – but the sudden arrival seemed to spark the question of where do babies come from, as Jazz had asked her parents said question no less than four times over the past week. Maddie was mostly sure Jack was joking about having no idea. Mostly.

Days dragged into weeks as her family settled into the new routine, and Maddie tried her best not to worry too much that she still hadn’t heard any word from her wayward cousin... or anyone, really. Mail from England was notoriously slow, after all, and could take anything from a few days to a couple of weeks to arrive. Maddie’s house didn't have a fireplace that she could register with the American Floo Network (each country had their own network), and it was doubtful that Sirius could have even contacted her that way, regardless of how much he would've loved to – goodness knows how many times he'd pulled the "face in the flames" prank.

Then, out of the blue, something changed. Something happened that caused a boom of activity took the wizarding world by storm, and the news spread like wildfire that was hot and bright enough for even the muggles to know there was something hinky going on.

Even if Maddie hadn't made an effort as of late to keep in touch with the goings-on of the British wizarding world she _still_ would have heard of the strange occurrences in England – people in robes during the daylight, constant sightings of owls in the day, etcetera, etcetera... they _really_ weren't making any effort to be subtle.

It seemed for all the world like it has suddenly become mandatory for anyone not going to jail to celebrate as if their very lives depended on it. England was the talk of the proverbial town, for both the wizarding world and muggle world alike.

England had broadcast the news to even the smallest of magical communities, ignoring whatever time difference there may have been, eager as it was to laud its victory over the heads of anyone who would or wouldn't listen. The "Dark Lord", dead at last! The "no thanks to you" had been left rather _pointedly_ unsaid.

The most important part of the bulletin, for Maddie at least, had been the identity and circumstance of England's "saviour", the Boy Who Lived. Harry Potter. James and Lily's son had survived the killing curse. Naturally, James and Lily had not.

Maddie's blood had run cold as ice. The Potters had been like family to Sirius – no, _more_ than family. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Sirius must be going through right now...

She didn't know James and Lily well enough to be invited to the funeral and sure, she'd love to get word of the doubtlessly high amount of her relatives that were going to Azkaban for their crimes... but the only real ties with England she had now began and ended with Sirius himself, and she hadn't heard so much as a word from him.

It was not reassuring in the least.

The “less-important” follow-up news took the mandatory week or two to arrive, and Maddie had not at all appreciated the waiting time. She had appreciated the actual contents of the news articles even less.

A massive list of suspected death eaters and known death eaters, several claims at having been under the imperius curse instead of a willing participant in that genocidal maniac’s crusade, and the traitor of the Potter’s whereabouts had killed a twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew and had been imprisoned without trial, his suspected accomplice gone without a trace, presumed either on the run or dead due to being no longer useful––

Maddie didn’t know how long she stared at the page simply rereading the article again and again as her blood boiled hotter and hotter. She didn’t know what angered her more – the fact that they had imprisoned Sirius without a trial or a proper investigation of guilt, or the fact that _nothing in that article had made a lick of logical sense_.

That spark that all inventors, researchers and scientists worth their salt were driven by kicked into overdrive. Maddie clinically folded up the newspaper and then proceeded to check up on her daughter and Danny. Both were sleeping soundly, adorably curled up with Jack on the couch. She took a few seconds to imprint the scene in her memory, an adoring smile gracing her features. She was loathe to bother them, but she was a mother on a mission.

She told her husband that she was going out for a while and taking Danny with her, and that she’d be back in an hour or two. Maddie knew that Jack could handle being left alone with Jazz for an hour or two, but she was hesitant to leave him with both Jazz _and_ a six-month-old baby.

And with that, she left to track down the fastest owl she could find.

A letter was sent, a letter was received, over and over again in a cycle that had no end in sight. Days and weeks and months passed, and each and every time Maddie sent a letter her anger would slowly whittle away to almost nothing, only to be sparked to new heights of roaring intensity whenever she would receive the next letter. Over and over again.

It was a strange feeling, being stonewalled. Like a caged animal, raging at someone they could never reach from behind the bars of their prison, so too did Maddie rage at someone she could not reach from her completely different country.

In fact, Maddie had quite a lot of choice words for what she currently thought of the British Ministry, and not one of them were appropriate for use around her innocent little children’s ears.

Despite her insistence on a trial, or at least being told the evidence against her cousin, she was written off, or worse – redirected – each and every time. Even when she tried to get the American’s Ministry to do something they just did the same thing, just worded in a slightly less arrogant manner.

Jack, not at all pleased by his wife’s stressing, had helpfully offered to “drive” in there with the Ghost Assault Vehicle (otherwise known as the RV) to show them why they shouldn’t mess with a Fenton. She was mildly tempted, even though it wouldn’t help her case at all. It did make her smile, though. Every time. Which was the point of course, and for that she was always thankful.

However much she wanted to, however much it killed Maddie inside to even admit it to herself, she knew in her heart that she couldn’t keep juggling her responsibilities to her family, her work and her crusade against the Ministry’s unjust conviction of her cousin forever.

She knew that there was something that wasn’t adding up with the picture that the media had painted. Something that could either prove her cousin’s innocence or put the final nail in his coffin. She just couldn’t put her finger on it, she didn’t have all the pieces of the picture, and she couldn’t convince anyone to give her the information she so desperately needed.

Maddie sighed heavily, her face buried in her hands. Her thoughts were blurring together more and more and sometimes she couldn’t remember why she was fighting or what she was fighting for.

She’d sat at the table long enough for her coffee to go cold. She’d been drinking far too much lately, but she’d needed the extra kick or else she wouldn't have been able to stay awake long enough to deal with everything and –

“Mommy?”

A tiny hand tugged at her jumpsuit pants leg, the closest part of her person that the bright-eyed toddler could reach. “You ‘kay?”

Maddie forced a smile as she stared into the eyes of her toddler, eyes that were full of innocence and hope, sadness and worry. Maddie tried to appease her with a soft, “I’m fine, sweetie.”

Jazz. Sweet, smart little Jasmine was not at all convinced and Maddie was forced to come face to face with the harsh reality of it all. She couldn’t go on like this. In her single-mindedness, she was focusing more on her crusade than her own family. Jazz, Jack... and now Danny as well.

Her heart clenched painfully in her chest, and she smiled sadly, brushing a bright ginger lock out of her daughter’s face. “I’ll be better soon, sweetie. Promise,” she said. “Go find your daddy, okay? I need to think on some things for a little bit.”

Jazz looked into Maddie’s eyes and it hurt to see her child trying to see into her soul and figure out whether or not she really was telling the truth to her.

“Pinky promise?” Jazz asked hopefully, with a small and adorable pout, as if this was the most infallible way to tell if someone was being honest with you. Then again, in _her_ mind it probably was.

“Pinky promise,” agreed Maddie, smiling affectionately as they linked pinkies and shook on it.

Satisfied by this solemn oath, Jazz nodded once, then turned heel and took off to find her father, leaving Maddie to her own bitter thoughts.

And then it dawned on her.

_Sirius had known._

He knew that this was going to happen. That Danny was going to need a safe, _permanent_ place to stay. That was why he came to her when he did. Before he confronted Peter. Immediately after James and Lily’s death.

He had known.

Maddie stared at the coffee mug in her hands, realising that her knuckles were white.

Sirius knew that he wouldn’t see the light of day again, he must have. Did he kill Peter? She honestly didn’t know. Maddie had never heard of any spell that could evaporate a person and leave a single finger. Maddie didn’t know what would drive someone to kill – Or did she? James and Lily, dead, betrayed. Peter?

She stared at her mug with unseeing eyes.

Sirius would never betray Lily and James... but Peter Pettigrew might. If there was one thing that Sirius might actually kill someone for, it was family. Not blood family, heaven forbid he’d lift a finger to help a Black... but the family he chose? The family that Lily and James and Harry were an integral part of?

Maddie’s blood ran cold.

Innocent or not, Sirius would not have escaped Azkaban that day, except for perhaps death itself. She did not like the thought, not at all... but she couldn’t deny the truth, no matter how badly that truth stung.

‘ _That does not make this right,_ ’ a voice in her mind hissed.

Maddie sighed, burying her face in her hands. ‘ _No, it doesn’t,_ ’ she agreed. ‘ _But this has to stop. I can’t go on like this. My family can’t go on like this. It has to stop._ ’

She would look after Danny. As her own son, even. But she couldn’t fight Sirius’s battles for him. Couldn’t put him above her own family’s health and wellbeing. He would understand... and if he didn’t, then he wasn’t the Sirius she knew and loved – the only Black she actually gave a damn about.

Even though it was the only cause of action, the only path that spared her daughter and husband the heartbreak and pain of watching her wither away trying to fight this, the only option left open if she wanted to fulfil her promise to Sirius of looking after Danny, the only way she herself could come out of this with her sanity intact... it still felt like a betrayal of the worst kind – and she hated herself for it.

She hated herself so much.


	3. Chapter 3

Maddie didn’t even need to look up. “Danny, stop staring at Jazz.”

Danny scowled, pouting. Was it some kind of magic that tipped her off? No... it couldn’t have been, because then muggle mothers wouldn’t be able to do it either. Unless... unless it was some sort of magic that all mothers had? Yes, yes that had to be it. There was no other possible explanation.

Jazz was giving him the most smug, triumphant look from her side of the table. That cheater. He didn’t know how she was cheating, but she was. She _had_ to have been.

“Don’t encourage him, Jazz,” said Maddie, again without even looking at them.

This time it was Jazz’s turn to be caught out. Sputtering, she gave her mother a look of complete and utter betrayal. Danny hid his smirk beneath the edge of the table, but Jazz could tell what he was doing from the look in his eye and glared at him regardless.

Sweet victory.

Maddie rolled her eyes, both enamored and exasperated at her children’s antics, and gently bopped them both on the head with her newspaper. “Knock it off you two and eat your breakfast.”

She glanced at Danny. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? It’s not too late to change your mind...”

“ _Mom_ ,” Danny whined. “I don’t want to go look at schools for Jazz!” Silently, he added, ‘ _Even if they_ are _schools of_ magic.’

“It’s only a couple of years until you go to one yourself, you know,” she reasoned, sounding a little hopeful. But even a little hopeful was too hopeful in Danny’s eyes.

“You already said I could stay,” he exclaimed, trying and failing to not sound whiny.

She sighed. “I did....”

“And you... you can’t go back on your word,” he accused.

“I’m not going to force you to go, Danny,” said Maddie, holding her hands up in a placating manner.

“If he doesn’t _want_ to go, then he shouldn’t _have_ to go,” Jazz said a little too loudly. “He doesn’t _have_ to go, does he?”

Maddie relented, “No, no he doesn’t.” She sighed again. “Tucker and his mother will be here in a couple of hours,” she said a bit more firmly. “And you’re going to have a shower before then, Danny.”

Danny winced... he had _really_ hoped that she’d forget _that_ particular little detail.

He ducked his head down with a sheepish grin, returning to his cereal as his mother’s focus seemingly switched back to her second coffee of the morning and her newspaper skimming. She swapped the newspaper she’d just finished reading, the latest issue of a muggle newspaper, for the latest issue of an American wizarding newspaper. The images blinked and flashed as they moved about, defying all scientific logic and reason as they went.

Danny glanced at his father, who was cheerfully eating his third helping of fudge and coffee whilst animatedly discussing new ideas for inventions and experiments he and Maddie could work on later.

It was impressive, in Danny’s opinion, that he couldn’t tell at all that either of his parents had recently failed their “big thing” – a portal they’d been working on since their college days, one that would open straight into the world of ghosts. Or, it would have, had it actually _worked_.

Both Fenton children had been there when their parents had fired the portal up for the first time after they’d finally finished building it. The portal had powered up, and then... it fizzled and died before their very eyes, sparking pathetically as the power cut out. Neither Maddie nor Jack could figure out exactly how or why it had failed, not when all of their calculations and tests had indicated that it should’ve worked like a charm.

Jazz, of course, had exclaimed that _of course_ it didn’t work – it wasn’t _magical_ in nature. Muggle devices and machinery couldn’t _possibly_ tap into and use _magical_ energies.

Their parents had been in a massive funk for _days_ afterwards, but they bounced back eventually. They always did. Going to look at schools for Jazz, though, was the final push they needed to return to their good old animated selves.

It had taken Danny three weeks worth of excelling at all of his chores and homework in order to convince his parents to let him stay home in Amity Park, with Tucker and his mother minding the house. Someone had to mind the house anyway, because of all the expensive, priceless and potentially dangerous ghost hunting equipment they had locked up in their basement laboratory.

Besides... Danny didn’t want to have to go and look at all the prestigious wizarding schools he’d never get to attend. One of them was even in _France_!

He was almost nine years old now, and he’d never shown any signs of magic. The chances of him actually being a wizard dropped exponentially with each passing year.

Danny still hadn’t quite figured out how he felt about that.

*** * ***

Eleven o’clock rolled around far too slowly in Danny’s opinion, mainly because his mother wouldn’t stop fussing over him. Yes, he understood that she was his mother and that it was her job as a mother to fuss over him, but he was way too old to be having his mother fussing over him all the time. Even _if_ he only actually minded whenever she did it in public...

When Tucker and his mother had arrived, Danny, like any self-respecting child _ever_ , immediately proceeded to use Tucker as a human shield from his mother’s fussing. “Save me, save me from the hugs,” he cried melodramatically.

Tucker pretty much lost it after that, becoming incapable of stopping himself from laughing, and Danny was certain that if Jazz had rolled her eyes any harder, they would’ve fallen out.

All the suitcases and bags were packed and piled by the front door, waiting to be packed into the RV. Maddie had, of course, double- and triple-checked every single bag to ensure an absence of ghost-hunting weapons and paraphernalia. (“But-but-but, _Maddie._ ”) They wanted to make the best possible first impression for their girl.

After all, Jazz would be the first Fenton to go to a true institute of magical learning in just a little over one hundred and ten years, and they needed to make sure they made a better first impression than the _last_ Fenton that had attended such a school... though Maddie did have to admit that they’d be rather hard pressed to get their hands on a drunk dragon, seven ogres and a truckload of cornish pixies at this time of year.

Jazz, impatient from all the waiting, tugged on her dad's sleeve. "Can we go now? _Please_?"

Jack grinned, giving Danny a suffocating bear-hug. “See you later, Danny-boy,” he boomed. In a quieter (but still very loud) tone of voice he added, “I've heard some of those magic schools have GHOSTS! Those spooks won't know what hit them with Jazzypants in the house!”

Danny grinned awkwardly. “Yeah... dad, they’ll be _terrified_ ,” he exclaimed with false enthusiasm. Wizarding ghosts were completely harmless, unlike the ghosts Jack and Maddie studied... it’s just that no one really had the heart to tell _Jack_ that.

Jack was blissfully oblivious, however, and Danny’s comment only served to brighten his already beaming grin, and his eyes were glistening wetly. “You should really get going," Danny said hurriedly at the exact same time that Jazz said, "We should go now!"

Jack sniffed proudly. “You’re right,” he exclaimed. “We shouldn’t keep the GHOSTS waiting!” And with that, he scooped up a meekly protesting Jazz under one arm and the entirety of the luggage under the other, then charged off to load them all into the RV.

Maddie smiled at them fondly. “That’s my cue,” she said to Tucker’s mother, chuckling slightly. She’d been going over some things last-minute with the woman, making sure that everything was well and truly in order before they departed.

“I’ll be fine, mom,” whined Danny. She ruffled his hair, and, much to his horror, gave him a quick kiss goodbye on the top of his head. “ _Mom!_ ”

She chuckled softly. “Be good, sweetie. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks - and don’t be afraid to call us if you need to. Or if you just want to talk.”

Danny huffed, pouting. “I know, mom. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“ _Maddie!_ Where are the keys,” Jack bemoaned from the driver’s seat.

“See you when we get back,” she said to Danny, smiling softly and hugging him one last time before she left.

“They’re in your pocket, dear,” Maddie told her husband, a fondly amused smile on her face as she pulled the keys from his breast pocket. Jack took them with a sheepish grin. “Make sure your seatbelt’s on, Jazz,” she called as she strapped herself in.

“Like I’d forget _that_ ,” exclaimed Jazz, horrified.

“BANZAI,” yelled Jack as he slammed on the ignition, the RV roaring to life as it sped away, swerving dangerously and breaking no less than twenty road laws in the process. They drove off to the sound of squawking pedestrians and squealing tires.

All things considered, it was impressive that they’d never had so much as a fender bender before. Even _if_ the RV was built like a tank.

Maddie might’ve also placed just a _few_ little charms on it. As a... _precaution_.

Somewhere, in the distance, a cat screeched.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it~ =3  
> Because I'm mean and I ask for things like that. 
> 
> I EAT THEM FOR BREAKFAST!! >D
> 
> ...Wait, did you think I was joking? O.o;  
> Well now, this is awkward.


End file.
